CAE Aviation to offer Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance services in Africa
GABORONE, Botswana — CAE Aviation has offered to provide the Nigerian Air Force with full turnkey airborne ground surveillance and reconnaissance services and to aid maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaisance (ISR) operations.
The company's offer to the Nigerian military was tabled by CAE Aviation Managing Director Luc Audoore during a recent symposium, held in Abuja to assess ways of boosting the country's ISR capabilities, called "Nigerian Defence Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Capability Upgrade Program."
Audoore said the Air Force stands to benefit from CAE Aviation's customized air support operations, which include airborne ground surveillance, training of crews, maintenance and technical modifications to existing aircraft.
He said all CAE Aviation aircraft can be adapted to the customer's needs in terms of survey equipment, endurance, communication and modifications, which may include the installation of systems to support the operation of imagery software.
Audoore said CAE Aviation also can provide specialized aerial survey operations and military para-dropping.
These capabilities could help Nigerian maritime authorities with border control, maritime survey, pollution control, anti piracy, fire detection and monitoring, internal security and anti-smuggling operations.
Nigerian Army chief of training and operations, Maj. Gen. Bonna Awala, urged CAE Aviation to continue consultations with the Air Force as there are many potential areas of cooperation.
Since 2010, Nigeria has embarked on a program to revive its aerial defense capabilities. It includes the refurbishment of old air force planes and the acquisition of new aircraft to improve the ISR capabilities of the air force.
Story by Oscar Nkala / [email protected] of DEFENSE NEWS